Today I would like to share another example from my own family history, which illustrates the importance and value of these summary books. This concerns another set of 2x great grandparents Ebenezer and Annie TROWER at Sayers Common, Sussex (I have just written about them over at part three of my Sussex Day walk).

Although I was pretty certain that I knew where the family were living at the time of the census, the householder’s page only gave the postal address as “Sayers Common Hurstpoint” (it probably should have read Hurstpierpoint or just Hurst, but I will forgive Ebenezer that little slip).

The enumerator’s summary page actually gives a different address, that of “Vicarage Cottage”, which is just what I was expecting. If I hadn’t already known where they were living just viewing the householder’s page would probably have left me no further forward.

So make sure you check the enumerator’s summary page, you never know what else you might pick up, especially as it doesn’t cost any more if you have already viewed the householder’s page.